


Voltron Hug Collection

by hufflepirate



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Bruises, Comfort, Crying, Delusions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e01 Rise of the Voltron, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Gift Giving, Homesickness, Hugs, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Late Night Conversations, Laughter, Mind Control, Mission Fic, Missions, Near Death Experiences, Nostalgia, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Battle, Post-Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Reunions, Running, Sickfic, Sunsets, Superstition, Teasing, Technology, Unconsciousness, good night hugs, tackling, troubleshooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-02 06:05:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 12,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10938531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflepirate/pseuds/hufflepirate
Summary: 15 microfics, minifics, or oneshots featuring Voltron hugs.  These were written based on tumblr prompts (plus 2) and to get me through finals week.  Every chapter involves at least one hug, all hugs are platonic, and chapter titles will tell you the people involved and some idea of the plot or prompt, so keep an eye out for those.





	1. Keith and Hunk - Post-Blades of Marmora

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter wasn't prompted, but started the ball rolling.

Keith stood at the bathroom mirror, poking at the bruises that covered his torso instead of smoothing the healing salve on them like he was supposed to be doing.  He’d bandaged up the cut on his shoulder, because that actually did hurt, though not as much as he thought it would have if it weren’t for the suit the Blades had provided.  Had it been able to close the wound because he was Galra?  He knew the deep purples scattered across his skin weren’t Galra, but every time he touched one and felt another spike of pain it was more reassurance that they were bruises, and he was human, and maybe, maybe, maybe the Blades were wrong.

He was too lost in thought to notice Hunk’s footsteps in the hallway until the door swung open beside him, and then halfway closed again.  "Whoops!“

Keith wasn’t sure whether to say "I’m in here” or “Don’t come in,” but before he could decide, Hunk figured out what he’d seen.

“Wait -” the door swung open again and Hunk was looking worriedly at him, “That’s a _lot_ of bruises.  What did they _do_ to you over there?”

Keith’s heart jumped a beat.  He didn’t know.  Shiro hadn’t gotten there yet, or Hunk hadn’t been listening, or he hadn’t - _he didn’t know_.

“I -” he stuttered, “It was a test, I-”

Hunk’s face darkened.  "It was a _test_?  What the heck?  Who _does_ that?  Those Galra-“

Keith tried not to flinch.  "It’s not their fault,” he interrupted, “I volunteered.  I wanted-”

He’d wanted to know about his heritage.  What a surreal thing to remember.  Now he’d give anything not to know about it.

Hunk’s face softened again, as Keith gestured wordlessly, unable to explain himself.

“Well, it still looks like it hurts.  I’m glad you’re ok.”

Hunk stepped into the bathroom and wrapped his arms carefully around Keith, avoiding the cut on his shoulder and most of the bigger bruises.

Keith froze for a moment, but when he felt Hunk pulling away, it suddenly occurred to him that this might be the last hug he ever got.  Shiro was going to make it through the rest of the story, or the Blades were going to mention his heritage, and then everyone would know and _this might be his last hug_.  He wrapped his arms around Hunk, stopping him from letting go, and squeezed tight.

Hunk seemed surprised, but didn’t let go, letting Keith half melt into him like he didn’t usually let himself relax enough to do.  Hunk’s arms were strong and firm and solid, and Keith just wanted to breathe in the leftover cooking smells hovering around Hunk’s clothes and never let go.

“Oh man,” Hunk said, tightening the hug just a little bit once he decided he could do it without hurting Keith.  "It must have been really rough.“

Hunk had no idea.  When they finally broke apart, Keith had to fight back tears, and only managed not to sprint away by clenching his stomach to make him feel stronger at his core.  It only mostly worked.


	2. Shiro and Pidge - fluffy pick-you-up-off-the-floor squeeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Bosstoaster: "I'd love to see a Shiro and Pidge hug, with Shiro giving Pidge a huge, teasing 'pick you up off the floor' squeeze."

“I don’t understand why every time we meet kid aliens they always want to play with me.  Like… I know I’m short, but I’m not _that_ much younger than the rest of you.  And I’m a _paladin_.”

Lance nodded, trying to be supportive.  Shiro was walking into the room behind Pidge, but she didn’t notice, too wrapped up in her rant.  Maybe Shiro would know what to say.

“I mean, if _I_ met a tiny policewoman, or something, I wouldn’t think ‘This is a person I should bring all my toys to.’  I would think she had places to go and things to do!  Why can’t they give things like that to _you_?  You’re _great_ with kids!”

“Aww, thanks Pidge!” Lance answered, “But-”  He made eye contact with Shiro, who held a finger to his lips.

“But _what_!” Pidge interrupted, “I’m not a _child_!  What’s a paladin gotta do to get treated like an adult around here?  Coran _still_ talks about how _cute_ I am when he doesn’t think I can hear him.  I’m _not_ ‘cute.’”

Suddenly, Shiro leapt forward with a roar, sweeping Pidge up into a huge hug.  She yelled with surprise, but the shout turned into squeals of laughter as Shiro spun her around in circles, feet dangling off the ground.

When Shiro put her down again and she turned toward Lance, he tried to look like he hadn’t been laughing at her, especially when she fixed him with a deadly glare.  Then she couldn’t hold it, bursting out into another giggle.  "Fine.  But I still don’t like it when people assume I’m young just because I’m small, or that I can’t do things."

Lance nodded.  "I get that.  Sometimes it’s like my older siblings don’t realize I’ve grown up.”

“Well, we’ll show 'em when we get back, huh?”

“You all will,” Shiro said supportively.  Pidge slugged him in the arm, as high as she could reach.  "You are not helping, Mr. 'Hurr durr, I’m an adult!  Watch me pick Pidge up!’“  Shiro laughed, ruffled her hair, and ran before she could get back at him, prompting Pidge to chase him.  Lance laughed, glad that Shiro had finally started to relax in the beginnings of their galactic peace.


	3. Shiro and Lance - Lance almost drowned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous sent the prompt: Shiro hugging lance, as a 'i thought you died' hug
> 
> I picked drowning as a form of 'I thought you died.'

“Come on, come on, _breathe_!”  As Lance grew bluer and bluer, Shiro felt his own chest seizing up.

A moment later, Lance came violently back to consciousness with a horrible, choking, gagging splutter that was the most beautiful sound Shiro had ever heard.

“Thank God!”  Shiro pulled Lance into a tight hug three coughs later, too relieved to hold himself back even though he knew Lance needed time to breathe.  Lance slumped contentedly into him for a few seconds, then pushed back suddenly, pounding at Shiro’s chest with his bound hands.  

Shiro let go just in time for Lance to vomit all over both of them.  The boy rolled to his side, trying not to throw up on himself, and burst into tears.  Shiro reached out with one hand to rub Lance’s back, using the other to sever the ropes around the boy’s hands.  Lance was their strongest swimmer, but he’d almost drowned without the use of his hands and the fact that the alien who had thrown him into the water was dead wasn’t nearly enough consolation.

Hands free, Lance hunched over, holding himself up as he coughed violently, spitting up water, and vomited again.  "You’re ok,“ Shiro murmured, rubbing his back, "You’re ok.  You’re alive.”  Lance whimpered, and Shrio started to wonder if the tears running down his face were more just than a result of the coughing and throwing up.

Finally, Lance managed several deep, shaky breaths together and sat up.  "Sorry I threw up on you" he said raggedly, voice rough and exhausted.

A pang of something sharp ran through Shiro’s chest, and he pulled Lance in for another hug, mess be damned.  Lance started crying again, leaning into the clean spot at his shoulder, above the splatter zone.

“It’s ok,” Shiro told him, tightening the hug until he knew Lance would feel how much he meant it, even through his shaking.  "I’m just glad you’re ok.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> There are 15 of these, but I don't feel like cleaning up and tagging 15 at once, so I'm gonna be moving these over here in chunks of probably about 3 a day for the next few days here. Unless I get busy and need a day off from it. They're all on my tumblr and tagged 'hug collection' if you wanna read 'em before they make it here.


	4. Allura and Kolivan, Keith, Shiro, and Hunk - away team returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: how bout someone being super relieved that someone's alive and hugging them really enthusiastically, then trying to pass it off as a casual thing?

The sight of their pod rising up through the planet’s atmosphere, wobbly on its one remaining engine, sent an audible sound of relief through the team watching from the bridge.  Allura took off at a run toward the hangar, Pidge and Lance not far behind her.  They’d been deathly afraid that the whole away team was dead since the minute they lost contact, and the thought of losing Shiro, Keith, Hunk, and their Galra allies had been almost unbearable.

The pod jolted awkwardly into the hangar and Allura rushed to meet it, flinging herself at the first person to come out of the door - Kolivan.  He caught her, surprised, and as she wrapped her arms around his enormous shoulders, standing on her tiptoes, she felt suddenly embarrassed, blushing heavily.  He seemed just as awkward, standing stiffly once he’d stabilized her with his hands on her elbows.

She shoved quickly away from him, trying to camouflage her embarrassment by flinging herself at the next person to exit the craft, Keith, who was only a little less awkward about it.  He hugged her back, thumping her on the back like he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, but she didn’t feel like she had to rip herself back out of his arms, and probably now Kolivan would realize this was _totally normal behavior_ for greeting the away team and she was _in no way_ glad that he’d survived.

Shiro seemed to expect her, pulling her in for a good, tight squeeze as soon as she’d let go of Keith, and she buried her face in his shoulder, glad he was tall enough to hide the rest of her blush in.  Pidge and Lance were both chattering away behind her, explaining that they’d been _so worried_ and the others should _never do that again_.  She took a deep breath, breathing in the smell of Shiro’s sweat.  When he let go, she asked, “How bad was it?”

“It was-” before Shiro could answer fully, Hunk had stepped away from Lance to give Allura a hug, picking her up off the ground just a little as she hugged him back.  When he put her down, there was something in his eyes that made her almost wonder if he’d figured out why she was hugging _all_ of them, but then she put that idea out of her head.  That was silly.  She’d covered very well.

“It was so stressful!” Hunk answered for Shiro, “I really thought we were not gonna make it back.  It’s so good to see you guys, you have no idea.”

She laughed, “Oh, I might have _some_ idea.”  Hunk kept an arm across her shoulders and she could almost, almost be ok with the idea that she had accidentally hugged a Galra.


	5. Keith and Pidge - Pidge has a panic attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked for "Platonic hug between Keith and Pidge? Maybe Pidge needs comforting after an anxiety attack or a battle and Keith helps her." I forgot the word "after" and wrote during an anxiety attack.

They all knew Pidge took it rough when they encountered Galra slaves and her father wasn’t among them, but usually Shiro went to talk to her afterward, so Keith hadn’t thought about it much.  He hadn’t felt like he had a right to talk to her about it, anyway, not since that time he told her that her family wasn’t more important than the whole universe.  That had been a bad play, and while he’d realized that at the time based on how the others had reacted, it hadn’t really sunk in until after the Blades’ test brought back his memories of his own family.

He almost went and got Shiro, now.  But Pidge wasn’t just crying, she was shaking, so hard he could see it from the door to Green’s hangar.  That seemed like a whole different kind of bad, and he wasn’t sure getting Shiro was the right thing.  He wasn't sure he should leave her for that long, when he didn't even know where Shiro was in the Castle.  He tentatively stepped into the room, but she was too wrapped up in her head to notice, and he suddenly knew he’d made the right choice.

“Hey, Pidge, are you ok?” he asked.

Pidge looked up at him from where she was sitting against the wall, eyes wide.  Her face was flushed and her breathing was a little fast, like she’d been running.  She shook her head, looking afraid, and his mouth went dry.  No.  She wasn’t.  Of course she wasn’t.

He walked over to her, searching for more words and not finding any.  Finally, he slid down the wall to sit beside her, laying an arm tentatively around her shoulders.  She reached up with the hand next to him and grabbed at his shirt.  "I can’t breathe,“ she said, gasping between the sentences, "I can’t _breathe_.  I’m gonna pass out.  I’m gonna die.”

“You’re not gonna die,” he said, tightening his arm around her a little.  "I promise.  I won’t let you.“

"I can’t _breathe,_ " she said desperately, sounding like she might cry at any moment.

“You _can_ breathe.  You’re talking, and you can’t talk without breathing.”  As soon as he said it, he knew it was wrong.  It was too logical.  It wasn't the kind of thing you said to someone when they were upset.  But then -

“Oh.  Yeah.  That's right.  Then why am I dizzy?”

“You’re maybe breathing too fast.  That’s not good, either.”

“I think something’s crushing my chest.”

He blushed a little as he stared down at her, looking just long enough that she would know he’d checked, but trying not to stare too long.  "I’m pretty sure it’s not.  You look ok.  Normal clothes and all.“

"I think I’m dying.  Am I dying?  I think my heart's beating too fast.  Is my heart supposed to be going this fast?”

He checked her pulse, pressing his fingers into the wrist of the hand that was tangled in his shirt.  "No.  But I think it’ll slow down if you can just breathe more deeply.“

”‘Just breathe more deeply’“ she parroted back sarcastically.  The flush that had been across her face when he walked up was gone, replaced by an eerie paleness, but the sarcasm made him feel better, like maybe she might be ok, under whatever was going on.  It was a relief.

Keith bit his lip, then moved on impulse, pulling her almost all the way into his lap so that her side was snuggled up against his chest, his arm still around her shoulders.  "Look, just lean into me and breathe when I do, ok?  We can do it together.”

He could feel her trying to take slower, deeper breaths, but when he reached for her wrist again, her heart was still racing.  She let go of his shirt, rearranging herself to recline more fully against his chest, and he kept one arm wrapped tightly around her and the other hand on her wrist, feeling her pulse.

Her breaths gradually slowed and eased, and her heartbeat got steadier and evened out to a normal pulse.  He felt a knot of tension relaxing in his stomach and half wondered if Pidge could tell.  He figured probably not, given how freaked out she still was, shaking a little in his arms.

"Keep breathing," he whispered.  She nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a deep, shaky sigh.

Finally, she relaxed completely, sagging into him and leaning her head back against his chest.  "I’m such a mess."

Keith shrugged, leaning his head against hers. He was just glad she was ok.  "I think we all are, sometimes," he said, "I used to sleep with my shoes on, in case we got attacked.”

“That seems like a rational response to being Voltron.”

“I used to sleep with my shoes on when I lived by myself.”

“Maybe less rational.”

Keith figured he probably should move, because he wasn't used to being close to people like this and he wasn't sure he was good at it.  But Pidge seemed content to stay here, and she’d always been kind of huggy with Shiro sometimes, and maybe she still needed this.  He stayed put, trying not to move too much so that he didn’t ruin her fragile new calm.

“Anyway, thanks, Keith.” Pidge said after a moment.  "For … whatever."  

"It's nothing," he answered, blushing.

She almost laughed.  He could see it in her eyes, and it made him feel like she was really, truly ok now.

After a few more slow breaths, she leaned forward, getting up.  Keith tried not to show how much of a relief that was as he scrambled to his feet behind her.

Before he could figure out what to say, she’d turned a bright smile on him and added, "You’re pretty great, you know that?”

He panicked, not sure what to say to that.  "You’re pretty … sweaty.“

Pidge laughed.  "I take it back.  You’re a jerk.  But thanks anyway.  I mean it.”

Keith blushed, looking down at his feet.  "No problem.“

She didn’t say anything when he grabbed the socket wrench he’d come in here to borrow in the first place and then bolted, but later he overheard her telling Shiro that she was ok and he’d been "a big help,” and he could let himself feel proud, just for a minute, that he’d done something right.


	6. Lance and Everyone (feat. Slav) - Lance has to hug everyone as fast as possible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked for "Lance sprinting through the castle trying to hug everyone as fast as he can for some reason. This nearly puts them all into healing pods as a result because he doesn't actually slow down at any point."

Lance found Hunk first, which was good, because when he barreled into his best friend, Hunk hugged him back and didn’t seem too concerned when Lance let go and raced off again.

Shiro was equally willing to be hugged, wrapping his arms bewilderedly around Lance before he could back away and run on to his next teammate. "What’s that for?" he asked, sounding bemused.

"I’ll explain later!” Lance declared, running off again. Two down.

He slammed into Keith two corridors later, almost knocking both of them over. Keith squawked, offended, and tried to squirm out of Lance’s grasp. "What are you _doing_?"

"Later!” Lance said, letting him go and taking off again. Three. Out of four? Six? Seven? Lance suddenly realized he hadn’t asked who, exactly, he was supposed to be hugging, but he figured it was better to err on the side of caution.

Pidge would be in her hangar, but everyone else would be on the bridge, so he went there first, pushing his legs to run faster. Why was the Castle so big? Usually it was good having a little room to split up so they weren’t all on top of each other, but as his lungs started burning, it seemed a little excessive.

When he burst onto the bridge, he went for Coran first. As he’d half expected, Coran caught him without questioning it, squeezing him back. "What’s wrong, Number 3?"

"Nothing!” Lance said, extricating himself and jogging more casually over toward Allura “I just have to hug everyone in the castle within the next four minutes, is all.”

Allura let him hug her, patting him awkwardly on the back. "What? Why? What are you talking about?"

He shrugged her off, running up to Kolivan, who glowered at him so hard that Lance couldn’t bring himself to give him a real hug and settled for an awkward side hug instead, dashing away as fast as he could so that he could both get to Pidge and avoid any retaliation from the enormous Galra.

"I’ll explain later!”

It was a relief to be out of the room, and an even bigger relief to only have one more friend to rescue. He wished he could take Pidge’s zipline to her hangar, but he suspected the Castle wouldn’t let him and raced down the long way instead, running until he had a stitch in his side.

When he burst into the hangar, Pidge looked up, surprised, from where she was sitting on the floor working on something that looked vaguely familiar. Lance dashed toward her and dove forward, sliding the last few feet on his knees while Pidge’s eyes widened and her hands came up to stop him. He managed to get his arms around her anyway, knocking them both over into a pile of limbs on the floor.

“What the heck, Lance?” she asked disgruntledly, swatting at him, “Get off!”

He pushed himself upright and away from Pidge, taking a deep breath in relief. "Sorry. Slav said I had to hug everyone in the castle in the next 10 minutes or the likelihood of all of us dying in a horrible accident went up by, like, 60%. That’s more than half!"

"Lance, Slav is _crazy_ ,” Pidge grumbled, sitting up. "You could have broken my new BLIP tech sensor!"

"Yeah, but he’s also a genius, so-”

“A _crazy_ genius. Did he even tell you _why_ you had to hug us?  I mean, what could _possibly_ have gone wrong that a hug would prevent?”

“That’s … actually a good question.”

“So why don’t you go ask him, and get out of my lab?” she asked grumpily, going back to her project with a furrowed brow, looking unusually lost as she stared into its circuits.

Lance snorted. "Yeah, fine. I didn’t want to be in your crummy lab anyway. I was just trying to save your _life_. It’s not a big deal or anything."

Pidge rolled her eyes, but Lance didn’t want to make a whole fight out of it, so he stormed off instead.

He hadn’t gone far in the other direction before Slav whipped around a corner and flung all eight of his arms around Lance. "You forgot to hug me!” he exclaimed “That was almost a disaster!”

Lance wrapped his arms around Slav in return, heart skipping a beat. "Oh no! Did we make it in time?"

Slav thought for a minute, still clinging tightly to the front of Lance’s armor. "Yes, I think so.  There is an 85% chance the crisis has been averted.”

Lance sighed in relief again. That was a pretty high percentage, for Slav.  "Good. Why’d I have to do that, anyway?"

"You are blue!” Slav explained, staring intently at the blue V in front of his face, “Blue light has a frequency of 606-668 terahertz! Very protective frequency range. Cancels out the waves of negative thoughts.”

“Wait - negative thoughts?” Lance’s face fell.

“Yes. I had been caught in a web of fear. Shiro says I should not get caught up in fear, and I think he is right. It makes too much negative energy. It needs 606 terahertz to cancel it out.”

Lance groaned.

“Do not worry, Blue Paladin,” Slav said. "You should only have to hug everyone a few times a week to keep them safe. Maybe once a day if there are a lot of dangers for me to think about."

Suddenly, "explaining later” seemed like a much harder task than it had before. Maybe he should just walk around the castle with Slav attached to his front and let Slav explain instead. The alien showed no sign of letting go any time soon anyway.


	7. Pidge and Hunk - surge of emotion - Hunk fixes Pidge's scanner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maychorian asked for "How about a surge of emotion causing a hug with Pidge and Hunk?"

She’d finally done it.  It was done.  The next time they found a mining colony or a slave ship or a prison or any other of the godawful places her father might be, the scanner in her hand would be able to tell her, from the outside, whether he was there or not.  It would give a number of life forms, then break it down by known species, using the information she’d downloaded from the Castle’s mainframe.  Every living thing would show up, numbered and categorized, and if there was a human on the list, she could be almost certain it would be her family.  They would know the number of guards.  They would know the number of prisoners.  They would know everything.  And she would find her dad and brother.  And they would be together again.  It was almost too much to wrap her head around.

Hunk was excited too, sitting next to her in the away pod they’d borrowed to run this test, but she knew he couldn’t really be feeling what she was.  Not really.

She took a deep breath and turned the scanner toward the castle, initiating its first scan.

Nothing happened.  The scanner whirred, and beeped, and made a thunking noise, and left her with a blank screen.

No.   _No_.  She’d worked on this for months.  She’d hunched over her laptop, coding until her back was sore.  She’d cannibalized half the technology she owned, and some of the technology around her that she didn’t.  She’d custom-made parts when she had to.  It couldn’t be a failure.  It _couldn’t_.  She felt like she’d been punched repeatedly in the gut.  A squeak came out of her mouth, but she wasn’t sure what kind of a squeak it was, only that she couldn't help it.

“Whoa, there, Pidge,” Hunk said, “It’s uh - let me just -”

He took the scanner out of her hand and she didn’t stop him.  Why should she?  It was worthless.  She was worthless and her dad and Matt were still out there and she was never going to be able to find them.  She'd been fooling herself.

“Hmm,” Hunk said, opening the back of the scanner with a tiny screwdriver he’d pulled out of his belt pouch.  'Hmm’ nothing.  It hadn’t worked.  Pidge tried to keep breathing even against the sudden flood of despair that made it seem easier, for the moment, not to.

“Ah, no, see, there’s the problem,” Hunk said, and she turned toward him, too distraught to really make sense of that.  Why did he sound so chipper?

“You’ve got these wires crossed,” he said, gesturing to something in the innards of the machine. “Easy to do when you’re working without a blueprint.  I told you an electrical diagram would help, instead of just doing it all out of your head.  Don’t you remember what Professor Montgomery said the first day of school?  Engineering is half math and half -”

“Wait - Are you saying you can fix it?”  Pidge asked, turning toward him as her brain finally caught up to what he was rambling about.

Hunk looked up from the scanner, beaming at her.  "Oh, yeah.  I mean, I think so.  I’m like 90% sure.  The signals just aren’t making it.  Your programming’s probably fine.“

After another moment, he slipped the cover back over the scanner’s inner workings and started screwing it shut.  Pidge shouldn’t hope it would work.  Not when it meant she might have to feel disappointed all over again.  But she couldn’t help herself.  Hunk was - well, he wasn’t confident, but he was _never_ confident and maybe-”

“There,” Hunk said, handing the device back with a smile.  "It should work now.  I think."

She bit her lip, staring at it for a moment.  No.  She couldn’t do it.  She shoved it back at him.  "You do it.  I can’t -” she cut herself off, not sure how to explain.

“Oh, yeah, I get that,” Hunk said, “You did a lot of work on it.”  That wasn’t the point, but it didn’t matter.  He’d taken the scanner back and was pointing it at the castle, and that was all she could focus on.  This time, it whirred, and beeped, and dinged, and the screen in Hunk's hand lit up, at the wrong angle for her to read it.

There was silence in the pod for a minute, and then she decided she was ready to know.  Not knowing if it worked was even worse than being afraid it didn’t.  "What’s it say?“ she asked.

"5 life forms,” he read off, “2 Alteans, 2 humans, and 1 question mark.  That’s probably Keith.  We should probably work on that.”

She should feel happy.  Her brain told her she should be happy.  But there was still a ringing emptiness in her chest where the shock had been when she failed.  "It worked?“ she asked.  Before Hunk could answer, it sunk in, like just saying the words made them true.  "It worked!”

Her heart filled up like it might burst, and she flung herself sideways at Hunk, hugging him as tightly as she could in such tight quarters.

“Heck yeah, it worked!” he answered, hugging her back as best he could.  "You did it, Pidge!  Now we’ll be able to find your family in no time."

She didn’t realize she was crying until Hunk started rubbing her back.  "Whoa, wait, whoa.  This is good, Pidge!  It’s a good thing!”

She buried her face into his shoulder.  "I know."

"Oh, good.  You just stay right there then.  As long as it’s happy crying.  I can get behind happy crying.”

She laughed, and almost wanted to slug him in the arm, like she would if it were Lance, but not as much as she wanted to stay here, twisted around awkwardly in Hunk's arms, for a little bit longer and embrace the knowledge that she’d done it - that _they’d_ done it.  She was going to find her family.

 


	8. Shiro and Pidge - ditching a party to watch the sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 15 strawberri3s sent: Hello! If you're still taking hug prompts, how about Pidge hugging Shiro?

Shiro sat up on Black’s nose, away from the chaos of the village. He was glad the people here had embraced the paladins, and he was glad the others were taking the chance to let off some steam and enjoy the party. He just needed a break from it all, a moment by himself away from the crowds.

He felt like he could breathe again.

After a few minutes, he thought he should probably go back to the party, but he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to do it. The sun was setting, he had a great view from up here, and he still didn’t want to be among all those strangers.

A clanging noise beneath him drew his attention away from the horizon, and he looked down to see Pidge climbing up Black’s leg toward him. He smiled, but stayed put, waiting for her. If she wanted him to go to the party, she’d be yelling for him, not climbing up to meet him, so maybe she needed the break, too.

When she reached him, Shiro twisted sideways to look at her, watching as she walked over to stand behind him. "Hey."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders just as he was tipping his head back to look at her, and he almost clocked her in the chin with the back of his head, stopping himself just in time. "Hey,” she answered.

He wanted to ask why she was here, but he didn’t want to sound like he was interrogating her, so he waited, reaching his hands up to wrap around her arms and keep them around him. She readjusted, kneeling so she could lean against him at a better angle, with her head propped on his shoulder. He leaned his head sideways, nudging hers affectionately. "You need a break, too?" he asked.

"Sort of. I dunno. Mostly I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I know you don’t like being called Champion like that.”

He grunted in agreement. That was true. He’d tried to convince himself it wasn’t why he was up here, but - it was true.

“I mean, it makes sense, though," she continued, "I wouldn’t want people to talk about me like all I ever did was - you know.”

He _did_ know, and he hated that as time went on, more and more of the paladins would know, too. Pidge had killed Haxus, and she wasn’t the only one who’d had to face killing someone.

“Anyway, the sunset’s nice up here,” Pidge continued, rambling a little in his ear, like maybe she was ok anyway.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “It is.” When she was quiet for another long moment and he realized she wasn’t going to leave, he leaned backward into her a little bit, and she pulled her arms a little tighter around his shoulders. They watched the sun sink under the horizon in silence, figuring the others would come get them if they were needed back at the party.


	9. Keith and Shiro - Keith's sick and clingy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> silverheartlugia2000 asked for "Keith is sick or having some weird galran allergic reaction to something while being super clingy to shiro while he's busy, but the poor boy is having a 'don't leave again' panic attack:3"

“When he gets better, we’d better give him a full complement of Galran vaccines,” Shiro whispered to Coran over Keith’s head. "You can do that, right?"

Coran nodded, looking sympathetic. Keith had been horribly, desperately ill for going on 65 hours now, and Shiro was tired of playing space heater while Keith slept on top of him. The rest of them were apparently immune to Keith’s bizarre inverse-fever, which was good, but if Keith didn’t start turning around soon, the rest of the team was going to have two patients, because Shiro was going to go crazy.

Coran reached down and put a hand on Keith’s forehead, Shiro moving his chin to give Coran better access. "I think he’s shivering a little less, now.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Even if we had any on hand, they’d be expired after 10,000 years.”

Shiro groaned, and the noise was just enough to make Keith shift in his sleep, his grip on Shiro’s shirt getting tighter. At the start of this whole thing, Shiro hadn’t minded letting Keith cuddle up to him for warmth, but now he was tired of being pinned down all the time, with Keith plastered on top of him like another prosthetic appendage. They both needed sleep, but lying down with Keith’s weight pressing him into the couch made him feel a little trapped.

“Do you want me to try to take him for a little while again?” Coran asked.

Shiro closed his eyes, thinking about it. The problem was that they couldn’t leave Keith without a heat source, but they also couldn’t leave him with something electric or mechanical that might burn him without him realizing it.

The other problem was that Keith wasn’t in his right mind, even when he was awake. In the early stages it had been fine, just Keith almost like usual, apologizing for snuggling up to Shiro even as his shivers made the words hard to speak, but then the neurological symptoms had kicked in and he was desperate, afraid, unable to let go of Shiro, or unwilling to, or _something_. Coran said he didn’t really know enough to tell what was going on in Keith’s head, but it definitely wasn’t something they could put him in cryo for when his primary symptom was already being too cold, so that was that.

“Yeah,” Shiro finally answered, “Better to try while he’s still asleep. I’ve gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll try not to be long, though.” He wanted to be long. He wanted to be _so_ long, and he felt bad about it. It wasn’t Keith’s fault he was sick.

Coran nodded, climbing over the back of the couch until he was jammed sideways between Shiro and the back cushions. They were too close together, but it was better than waking Keith up. Shiro slid over carefully, putting one foot down on the floor as Coran finally got room to roll onto his back, shoulder to shoulder with Shiro. Transferring Keith from one of them to another was always tough, but rolling him over from one person to the next seemed to be the best strategy.

As Shiro tried to extricate Keith’s fingers from the front of his shirt, the boy started stirring again, and Shiro froze, terrified that Keith was about to wake up and he'd be stuck here for another few hours without a break.  But then Keith settled down again when neither Shiro nor Coran moved a muscle, and Coran slid an arm carefully around the red paladin without waking him up, and they all calmed down again. Shiro went back to freeing himself from Keith’s death grip, breathing more easily. At least Keith didn’t have his arms all the way around Shiro’s chest this time. That was harder to get out of.

Once Shiro was free, he left the room as quietly as he could, making a beeline for the bathroom. When he got out and Keith wasn’t screaming and didn’t seem to know he was gone, he paused for a moment to assess things. He had to decide whether to go back yet or not, and he had to decide fast, before Keith woke up again.

His stomach growled and he headed for the kitchen, torn between the desire to hurry so that he could get back to Keith faster, and to dawdle, so that he could have more time away from him. He _did_ feel bad about that. He did. But he also _felt_ it, and he wasn’t sure how to _stop_ feeling it, so acknowledging it seemed like his only real option.

Hunk looked up when he entered the kitchen, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Oh, hey, is he-"

“No, not really. Coran’s got him, so I’m grabbing something to eat before he wakes up again.”

Hunk nodded. "Ok, yeah, sounds good. Let me know if you need me to hold him again for a while, ok? I think last time I had him for a whole half-hour before he started screaming about not knowing where you were." Shiro nodded, trying not to rub his eyes and let on exactly how tired he was.

He was three bites into a bowl of food goo when an unholy shriek came from Keith’s direction, and he had to close his eyes and center himself. Patience yields focus. He should be focused on Keith. Keith who needed him. Keith who he cared about. Keith who was brave and strong and would never be like this if he could help it, who would probably be mortified and even more miserable than Shiro if he realized what was happening to him. He breathed in and out slowly, then opened his eyes again.

The shriek stopped, replaced by a desperate shout that was more clearly his name.

"I better go,” he told Hunk. "Think you can bring that by for me once I get Keith settled again?"

"Of course!” Hunk answered, sounding offended that Shiro would even ask. "And anyway it’s probably almost time to try to get him to eat again, too."

That was a fight Shiro was glad to delegate to someone else. "Yeah. That’s true. I’ll send Coran to get you once he’s calm but before he falls asleep again.”

Part of him wanted to walk, but as Keith shouted his name again, voice rising toward another shriek, his heart couldn’t take the thought of leaving him like that, confused and desperate. He broke into a run.

When he burst into the room, Keith tried to get up, flinging himself off of Coran and almost immediately tumbling to the floor. "Shiro!" His voice was rough now that it was close to its normal volume, ragged from too much screaming and too many times waking up without Shiro in his direct line of sight. "Shiro, you’re alive!” He tried to drag himself forward along the ground, making Shiro feel suddenly like the biggest jerk in the world.

Shiro pushed himself to move even faster, half falling down himself as he reached for Keith a little too fast.

Keith immediately latched onto him like a limpet, burying his face in Shiro’s chest. "You’re alive, you’re alive!"

Shiro pulled Keith closer, wrapping his arms tightly around him. "I know. I know. I am. I’m here.”

Keith took several deep, panting breaths, clinging hard to Shiro, but then he calmed down and his breathing slowed, and for a minute, he seemed to forget. Then he realized where he was again.

“Shiro!”

“Yes,” he answered, not making it a question. He hadn’t answered his name with a question in a day and a half. Keith just needed confirmation that he was there. He didn’t want anything else. He just wanted Shiro to be alive.  Shiro was probably an asshole for ever leaving him.

"Good.” Keith sighed, a deep shudder running through him so hard Shiro could feel it. Quiznak. Shiro was torn between wanting to know what was going on in Keith’s head so that he could maybe try to fix it, and being intensely glad that he didn’t know. Coran said Keith was probably hallucinating, but Shiro was hoping it was just forgetfulness. Blanks weren’t ideal, but they were better than bad memories.

Shiro wanted to get Keith back up onto the couch, but even that could be hard when it meant Keith had to let go of him. They’d tried to get Keith to accept other sources of warmth, and he could snuggle up to Coran or Hunk for a little while sometimes if Shiro was in his line of sight and holding his hand, but when he was at his worst, even that was a struggle. Shiro had thought he might lose circulation in his hand last time they’d tried it, Keith was squeezing so hard.

It took them half an hour to get Keith calm enough to go back to the couch, sitting up and leaning heavily into Shiro, and another half an hour to get him to eat anything at all. By the time they’d gotten 6 bites of food goo down him and Shiro had finished his bowl, it was clear that the best thing for everyone was if Keith went back to sleep again, like his drooping eyes were clearly threatening to do anyway.

7 hours later, Shiro woke up feeling surprisingly rested. He opened his eyes, trying to gauge how long it had been since he’d fallen asleep, and put a hand on Keith’s forehead out of habit. Keith was warm, and it took everything in him not to shout for the others and wake him up. He pushed Keith’s hair back from his forehead, laying his hand against Keith’s skin again, just to be sure. It was true. He was warm. He was warm.

A wave of joy and relief broke over him and suddenly he was laughing, full belly laughs that jostled Keith hard enough for the boy to sit up, pressing against Shiro’s chest to lever himself into a sitting position. "Whuzzat - wha - where am I?" Keith’s eyes locked onto his face, still half confused, but more present than they'd been in 2 days. "Shiro?”

For a moment, Shiro was afraid Keith was going to go desperate again, and turn out to still be sick. Instead, the boy’s eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you sleeping on the couch? Why am _I_ sleeping on the couch? Why does my head hurt?"

Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith and pulled him in for a hug, both relieved and weirdly disappointed by the way Keith immediately tried to wriggle out of the embrace. He let go, and Keith pushed back away from him, scooting backward to sit on the couch between Shiro’s feet. He looked confused, staring at Shiro like he was waiting for an answer.

"You’ve been sick,” Shiro told him, “But I think you’re ok now.”

Keith nodded, but still looked a little confused. "What did I have?"

"I can’t pronounce it,” Shiro answered, “But don’t worry. We’re gonna get you some vaccines before you have to go out into Galra territory again.”

Keith nodded. "Vaccines. Cool." Shiro suspected Keith wasn’t processing that, really, but at least he was failing to process it without screaming or panicking.

"You’re gonna be ok,” he told Keith.

Keith nodded back. "Ok." Shiro couldn’t tell if Keith believed him or not.  He looked exhausted, something in his eyes going unfocused as he continued to stare toward Shiro's end of the couch.

Finally, after a moment of Keith’s wobbly staring, Shiro did something he’d spent 24 hours swearing he’d never do again. He held his arms open, waving Keith toward him. "Come on, come here. You look like you’re still a little out of it.”

Keith crawled back over to accept the hug, but then broke loose again after a minute. Shiro was almost disappointed. Then he took the opportunity to stretch his arms and legs and he thought he might never be disappointed to be denied a hug again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, the others also care. It's just that Pidge is too small to play space heater and Lance is too bony and Allura is actually terrible with sick people. She'll make them food and smooth blankets over them while they're asleep, but she's not so good with them while they're awake.


	10. All The Paladins - post-fight group hug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> isabeau25 asked for "what about a Paladin cuddle pile based on 'I was really scared you weren't going to make it, and I need to hold on until I'm sure you're alive.'" (Shout out to her for a prompt that I particularly wanted to write and that made a particularly good bribe for myself to get through my work stuff.)

The moment the dust storm cleared and the paladins could see again, they flew toward each other as fast as they could.  Communications were still out, but now that they had visuals on the other lions, they could count them off - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Everyone was ok.  The sand creatures they’d been fighting had been vicious, and they’d been cut off from each other, and the wind had been swirling dust around them so that they didn’t know where anyone was, friend or foe, and somehow they were ok.   _They were ok_.

When the lions hit the ground in a tight circle, the paladins rushed out, running toward the middle so fast that Lance and Pidge stumbled a little when they tried to stop.  Hunk flung his arms out to catch Lance, but Lance was already reaching for Pidge, who’d already made a grab for Shiro.  Shiro stuck his arm out toward her, but the other arm was busy catching Keith, who was just as desperately trying to hug him.  Hunk ended up with his arms around both Lance and Pidge, almost knocking them over until Pidge stabilized all three of them with her death grip on Shiro’s Galra hand.  

Once they were stabilized, Hunk let go of Lance and Pidge with one arm, reaching his hand out to grab Keith’s shoulder, and Keith drifted toward them, pushing himself up against Hunk’s side and pulling Shiro along with him.  Shiro let go of Pidge’s hand for long enough to get an arm around Lance, leaving Pidge free to grab him around the middle and then stretch a hand out behind her for someone - anyone - to grab.  Keith took it, confirming she was ok, too, real and alive and present and not a figment of anyone’s imagination or a mirage of the sand.

They pulled in tighter, until Hunk and Shiro could reach each other around Keith and Lance and Pidge was almost squashed in the middle, but she didn’t seem to mind any more than the rest of them.  They leaned in, helmets bumping against each other, and sighed together, deep sighs that emptied their lungs of air and left them sounding shaken.  They were ok.  They were ok.  They were all going to be ok.  They stayed that way, silent and breathing heavily, until Allura and Coran got the comms back online and startled them out of it with a demand that they report in and tell the castle they’d come through the storm alright.


	11. Pidge and Keith - Keith cuts it close on a mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rangergirl3 asked for "Could I give a hug prompt where Keith is the unsuspecting recepient and Pidge is the giver? Totally love the sibling vibe between those two :D :D"

Keith stumbled to the rendezvous point last, cutting it so close that Hunk barely managed to pull him into the closet where the rest of them were hiding and close the door before the guard on duty rounded the corner.  Lance took a sharp breath in, preparing to say something, but Pidge clapped a hand over his mouth before he could, shaking her head.  They waited, huddled together, while the guard walked past their closet.  His footsteps passed them, kept going down the hall, rounded the corner, and faded out of hearing range.

Pidge let go of Lance, and he immediately hissed, “What the heck, Keith?  All that about ‘absolutely don’t be late’ and 'we don’t have the power with only four lions to mount a rescue’ and you cut it that close?  What were you-”

Hunk put a hand on his arm, shutting him up.  "We were _worried_ , man,“ he said softly, "We can’t lose you, too.”

Keith refused to look at them, half shrugging, and Hunk’s hand tightened on Lance’s arm before the blue paladin could turn it into a fight.  "I passed a room full of these," he explained, pulling something out of his hip pouch.

He tossed the object at Pidge.  She caught it and turned it over in her hands, heart swelling in her chest.  "This is just like Rover!”  She felt silly about the burst of emotion she felt holding the tiny robot.  It always hurt a little, thinking about Rover, but now that she was holding a replacement drone, she was having a hard time not grinning like an idiot in the middle of their very dangerous reconnaissance mission.

He nodded, keeping his eyes trained on her, and carefully off of the others, while he made his case.  "There was a whole room of them.  I figured having our own spy drone would help keep us out of situations like this.  We need to find Shiro without losing anyone else."  He glanced downward, breaking eye contact, "And anyway, I know you miss Rover and we all miss Shiro and I just thought-”

Pidge leapt forward, wrapping her arms around Keith’s neck.  He’d been a numbskull about this, by cutting it so close and not warning them, but in the grand scheme of numbskull moves she and her teammates had made it wasn’t the biggest.  She'd done some numbskull things herself, sometimes.  He seemed surprised, stiffening for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her in return, pulling her close in an awkward armored hug that felt good anyway.

“Well, at least you made it,” Lance said, softening a little.  They all knew he wasn’t happy about Keith being their new leader, but the atmosphere in the closet was much less tense now, and Hunk could take his hand off Lance's arm without worrying he'd start another fight.

Pidge gave Keith one extra squeeze and then pulled away, shoving the drone into her own hip pocket.  "I’ll have to reprogram it back at the castle, but I think we’ve got everything we need.  Let’s get out of here."

Keith nodded, and Hunk opened the door, and then it was back to the mission, as usual.


	12. Keith and Lance (and Pidge) - middle of a foot race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Running Hug Anon from Chapter 6 also sent: "Keith and Lance are having some kind of foot race and Lance is losing. So he up and launches himself at Keith, tackles him to the ground, then pops right back up and crosses the finish line cackling. When Keith confronts him about it he is all haughty innocence. 'Cheating? Moi? Dude, you wound me. I was just overcome with sudden affection for you is all. I just wanted to give you a hug and you accuse me of sabotage!' Keith decides this is a perfect opportunity for revenge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure whether to categorize this as Keith and Lance, because of the prompt, or Keith and Pidge, because of the ending, but here we are. It's kind of both.

Keith’s legs pumped, little clouds of dust rising with every footfall.  The desert planet they were on was empty, quiet, and peaceful.  It felt a little like coming home again, only the sunlight here wasn’t quite right and the dust was too red.  Pidge cheered as he approached the finish line, and he felt himself smirking.  He’d _told_ Lance he was faster, but it was nice to be able to prove it.

Suddenly, something hit the back of his knees, wrapping around his legs so that he fell, hard.  He got his hands underneath him, his wrists stinging with the impact of catching himself, and Lance let go of his legs, scrambling up faster than Keith’s brain could catch up and making it across the finish line before Keith was all the way to his feet.

“Hey!” he shouted, anger welling up in his chest, “That’s cheating!”

“Cheating?” Lance asked, sounding offended, “ _Cheating?_  I would never!  I was just - overcome with admiration for your running skills and I had to hug you to congratulate you on them.”

Pidge groaned, rolling her eyes, and Keith remembered that the others were there.  He took a deep breath, trying to keep a grip on his temper in front of the rest of the team.

“So, I still won, then?” Keith asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice and hoping Lance would agree to that and he could go off and calm down.  He could still hold onto his pride if they called it a win, and then he could dust himself off and pretend this had never happened.

“What?  No!  You definitely lost.  I got prematurely excited.  I should have just waited and hugged you after I won.  Or, like, not at all, ‘cause I _won_.”

Keith gritted his teeth.  He could feel his anger threatening to take over, but he wasn’t supposed to be fighting with Lance.  Shiro had _specifically_ asked him to try to fight less with Lance.  This had to be subtle.  And not involve pulling his sword or punching anyone.  Forcing his face calm, he slapped on his best fake smile, with no real illusions that it was actually believable and answered, “Oh, so I should be hugging _you_ , is that it?  Bring it in.”

Lance clearly distrusted him, giving him a pretty heavy side-eye, but if there was one thing you could count on with Lance, it was that once he committed to something, he didn’t back down.  "Of _course_!" he answered nonchalantly, "I’ll always take a congratulatory hug!”

The hug was awkward, Lance trying to keep distance between them before Keith could do anything, but it wasn't enough to save him.  Once Keith had Lance where he wanted him, he turned it into a wrestling move, shoving Lance to the ground hard enough that he could feel the breath being driven out of Lance’s lungs when they landed.

Lance took a deep, startled breath in, one that sounded a little painful.  Keith figured that was as good a revenge as any for his still-stinging wrists. “What the _hell_ , Keith!” he squawked.

Before Keith could answer, Shiro was hauling him off of Lance, and up to his feet.  "Ok, you two, that’s enough.  We’re out here to have fun, not fight with each other."  Shiro gave Lance a hand up, too, then stared at both of them, eyes narrowed calculatingly.  Keith tried not to look him in the eye and became vaguely aware that Lance wasn’t meeting Shiro’s eyes either.

Then Shiro’s face relaxed into a smile.  "I think a make-up hug would be ill advised here, so you’re just gonna have shake hands and put this behind you, ok?”

Keith and Lance looked at each other.  Keith wasn’t sure he was ready to let this go, but he _was_ sure he didn’t want Shiro to be disappointed in him.  He and Lance shook hands tentatively, watching each other’s faces warily.  He considered trying to pull Lance over again, but Shiro was watching too closely, so he just shook Lance’s hand and dropped it again.

Pidge and Hunk got in between them before anything else could start up again, Pidge rambling at Keith about how great he was in the race and Hunk checking Lance over for injuries.  Keith noticed when Pidge pulled him a little ways away from Lance, and he was aware that Hunk was doing the same thing, pushing Lance subtly away in the other direction, but that was ok.  It just meant they cared.

In the face of the rest of their friends trying to break the tension, being mad felt a little silly, especially when it really _had_ been just a silly foot race.  After a few moments of listening to Pidge and calming down, the absurdity of the whole thing hit him and he laughed, wrapping an arm casually around her and leaning over for a brief hug while they walked.  "Thanks, Pidge."  

She rolled her eyes at him, but leaned into his side in response, putting her own arm around him for a moment before she let go.  "Anyway, next time, you should race in the lions.  Then it’s harder to cheat.”  

Keith wasn’t so sure about that, but it _did_ sound fun.  Maybe they could make it part of their training, one of these days.


	13. Hunk and Lance - Lance is mind-controlled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maychorian asked for Hunk and Lance with a "post-rescue thank you for saving me hug." She got Hunk and Lance with a hug as a rescue. Which is close?

Hunk kept his arms around Lance, pinning his friend’s hands to his sides while Lance thrashed and writhed in his arms, trying to bite or scratch or lash out against him.  "Come on, Lance!" he gasped, struggling to get the words out as he fought to keep control over his friend, “I know you’re in there.  I _know_ it.”

If Lance was in there, it was only behind whatever Haggar had done to him to make his eyes glow yellow.  He’d tried to kill them all, and if Hunk let go, he’d try again.  Hunk could see it, in the yellow gleam visible every time Lance twisted his face toward him, and he could feel it in the desperation Lance fought him with, but he couldn’t let go.  He _couldn’t_.

He didn’t know how long they were standing like that, his arms around his best friend, Lance struggling and cursing and hissing and screaming and spitting and trying to bite him, but it was too long and his throat got sore from begging Lance to come to his senses, but he didn’t let go.  He didn’t let go, and then all of a sudden whatever this was had run its course and Lance slumped in his arms, eyes falling shut.

He couldn’t let go.  Not now.  Not yet.  Not until he knew.  "Lance?" he asked, voice coming out hoarse and tentative.

His best friend shuddered in his arms, so hard he could feel it running through his own body.  Lance’s eyes opened and were blessedly, reassuringly blue again.  "H-Hunk?”

Lance’s voice sounded awful, too, hoarse and terrible, and Hunk’s heart seized up a little at how broken he sounded.

“Yeah, it’s me.  Are you back to us now?”

Lance burst into tears, sobbing raggedly and buckling even farther as his legs gave out completely.  He was crying too hard to talk, and Hunk's grip on him was the only thing keeping him upright for a moment before he could stabilize himself.  One Lance seemed a little more solid, Hunk rearranged his grip to free his hands, trying not to let go of Lance in case he fell.

As soon as Lance had room to move, he whirled around, fast enough to make Hunk’s heart race with fear, but then Lance’s arms were around his neck and his friend was sobbing brokenly into his shoulder and Hunk could calm down again because it clearly wasn't an attack.

He wasn’t sure what to say.  "Lance, I-"

Lance let out another choking sob, arms tightening around Hunk’s neck.  Hunk realized Lance needed comforting right now more than either of them needed to figure out what had happened and responded in kind, adjusting what had been a desperate attempt to restrain Lance into a real hug that left him a free hand to rub Lance’s back with.

Lance clung to him until he could get words out again, stuttering, gasping ones that sounded painful.  ” _Quiznak_ , Hunk, I - I almost - _Mierda_."

Hunk rubbed his back.  "It’s ok, Lance.  It’s ok.  You didn’t.”

“I could have - I can’t -”

“I’m ok.  We’re all ok.  It’s _ok_.”

Lance let out another sharp, gasping sob, his arms going slack around Hunk’s neck as he pressed his face harder into his shoulder.  ” _Hunk_ ,” he said, like that was enough, or maybe like it was all he could manage.

Hunk squeezed him tightly again.  "I know.  I know.  But you didn’t hurt us, and we’re ok, and it’s gonna be ok.”

He remembered being mind controlled.  He remembered coming to and realizing he’d been trying to hurt Lance.  But he mostly remembered the end of it, not the things that had happened during.  He got the feeling Haggar’s magic wasn’t so kind.  When he relaxed his grip on Lance, the other boy seemed to be trying to fold in on himself, pulling his arms down from around Hunk’s neck and curling them up against his chest.  Hunk almost let go of the hug, but then Lance grabbed at the front of his shirt, gripping it in his fists, and he knew not to.

“I don’t think a-any of those awful things I said about you,” Lance said, still leaning his forehead into Hunk’s shoulder.

“I know you don’t.”  He hadn’t been sure, but it was magic, so he’d been pretty sure.  He’d hoped Lance didn’t mean those things, even deep down.  He wished he could trust that he didn’t, but trust was hard when he was trying to trust that other people liked him.

Lance looked up, meeting Hunk’s eyes with his watery blue ones.  They were red, like his nose, and Hunk suddenly realized that Lance had probably gotten snot on his shirt.  That was ok, though.  He didn’t think he minded.  

“I _mean_ it, Hunk.  They’re not just things I’d never say.  They’re not _true_.  Not _one_ of them.”

Hunk smiled.  "Thanks, Lance.”

Lance leaned into Hunk’s shoulder again, turning his face sideways to tuck his head closer to Hunk’s neck than before.  Hunk let him make his adjustments, keeping his arms around him.  They were silent for a few more heartbeats before Lance spoke again.

“I had no idea how hard it was,” he said reflectively, “Like, I thought it was pretty hard fighting you when you got mind controlled and I’m pretty sure I was a jerk about that, after, but I didn’t know.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Hunk answered.  He suspected Lance had had it worse than he had.  He hoped it wasn’t true, but - sometimes you just knew these things, and he suspected Lance's mind control had been worse.

Lance shook his head, like he knew Hunk was lying, but Hunk didn’t think he knew the not-ok part was watching him hurt like this, and not the other thing.  He’d only tried to kill Lance a little bit.  Lance had tried to kill him a lot.  And he’d said bad things, and all those things had hurt, but not like watching Lance this upset did.

He half wondered what that said about him.  But it wasn’t like Lance could say anything much worse than the things he thought about himself sometimes, on bad days when everything he did was dumb and all of his ideas were stupid and no one had any reason to like him and everything was on the edge of being awful.  Now it was just awful for Lance, and that was harder to take, somehow.

“Thanks for saving me,” Lance whispered, “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d-”

Hunk shook his head, “I’d never have let you.”

“I know.  But thanks.”

Hunk wasn’t sure he was going to be ready to let go of Lance for a while, and Lance’s grip on his shirt didn’t show any signs of relaxing, so he just let them slump to the floor, still holding tightly to each other, and waited for the storm to pass.  Lance would feel better eventually.  And then he would, too.

Hunk thought he should probably open the door he’d slammed shut when Lance got violent, or at least say something to their teammates on the other side, to let them know everything was ok.  But he didn’t think Lance would want them to see him this way, and he didn’t think Lance was ready to face them yet, and he didn’t say anything.  The others could wait.  But he gave a thumbs up at the camera in the corner, just in case Pidge was watching, and he let Lance doze off against his chest.


	14. Shiro and Keith - Mid-Rise of Voltron - Shiro wakes up in Keith's shack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> silverheartlugia2000 asked: "Back in the first episode they never told us what happened when Shiro woke up at Keith's but I can imagine after being strapped to a table as soon as he gets back home then seeing a familiar face he can finally let himself cry and acknowledge he's free again :3"
> 
> I had a lot of feelings about that.

Keith hovered beside the couch while the others poked through his kitchen.  The big one, Hunk, seemed vaguely familiar and was currently criticizing his cabinets full of non-perishables.  Lance seemed bitter about something, making veiled negative comments about everything in the little house.  Pidge was at the edge of the kitchen, mostly quiet and glancing frequently over at Shiro, too.

Keith thought probably his feelings should be hurt, but he couldn’t focus on the others.  Shiro was _right there_ , alive and breathing and Keith couldn’t think about anything else.  He’d thought he’d never see Shiro again when the Kerberos mission went wrong.  He hadn’t believed it was Shiro’s fault, because Shiro was too good a pilot for that, but he’d been sure that either way, that was it.  Shiro was gone.

But he wasn't gone.  He was  _here_.

Shiro looked different, and when they’d first gotten him on the couch, Keith hadn’t been able to resist running his fingers over the new scar on his nose.  The white hair was disconcerting, though not as much as the missing hand, and the longer Shiro stayed unconscious, the more Keith worried about all of it.

When Shiro started stirring, still asleep, Pidge drifted closer, but Hunk pulled her and Lance outside to check the perimeter, like he knew Keith wanted time with Shiro by himself.  It was a relief, and Keith made a note to himself to remember it.

Keith realized he was fidgeting and forced himself to stop.  He moved to sit on the table next to Shiro and after a moment reached out to grab Shiro’s hand, to give his own hands something to do.

Shiro came to with a gasp, bolting upright.  He pulled his hand out of Keith’s, twisting to look at the room around him with wide eyes.  With his back pressed up against the back of the couch and his knees drawn up in front of him, he looked terrified, and a spike of pain ran through Keith’s chest.  Shiro was _never_ scared like that.

Keith needed to say something, but he wasn’t sure what.  "Shiro?"

Shiro’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Keith’s face, looking confused.  "Keith?”

“Yeah, Shiro, it’s me.  I - we’re - what happened to you?”

Shiro shuddered, but seemed to have relaxed a little, putting one leg back down on the ground.  He shook his head.  "Where are we?"

That wasn’t an answer, but that was ok.  Keith told himself it was ok.  Shiro was here and the rest could wait.  Couldn’t it?  "We’re safe,” he said first, “We’re in a cabin in the desert, a little ways away from the Garrison.”

“Away from the Garrison?”

“They _lied_ about you.  They lied, and I knew it, and I couldn’t-”

Shiro nodded, but Keith wasn’t sure he really understood.

“They wouldn’t come for us,” Shiro said, “They wouldn’t look.  We were alone.”

Keith felt a shiver running down his spine.  "Yeah."  He’d hated that.  He’d hated knowing Shiro was out there and no one was looking, and he’d hated that his own small telescope was useless and couldn’t even see that far, but something in Shiro’s voice said that was just the tip of the iceberg.

"What happened to you?” he asked, reaching out to touch the shock of white hair over Shiro’s forehead.

Shiro shook his head.  "I can’t.  I’m - I can’t."

Moving on instinct, Keith reached out toward Shiro, who grabbed back at him.

Shiro buried his face in Keith’s chest, his arms coming up around Keith’s back.  Keith stood up, letting Shiro pull him closer.  He wasn’t sure what to do with himself, but tentatively laid a hand on the back of Shiro’s head.

"I’m just glad you’re home,” he said quietly.

Shiro started crying, a soft sob leaking out before he could stifle it, and Keith pulled him closer, leaning over to wrap Shiro in as much of a hug as he could.

“I just wanted you to be ok,” Keith said, starting to choke up himself.  Shiro didn’t cry like this.  Not like this.  Whatever had happened to him must have been awful.  "I’m just glad you’re ok."  He needed Shiro to agree, to tell him he was alright, but he didn’t.  He just clung tighter to him, still crying.

Keith hunched over Shiro’s head, trying to keep his breathing steady and his eyes dry before he cried into Shiro’s hair.  He tried to think about the fact that Shiro was here and ok and not about the white hair or the scar or the fact that one of the hands holding onto his back wasn’t human anymore.  He tried to keep himself under control as Shiro got on top of his feelings.  He tried not to let his emotions take over, because there was still so much they didn’t know, and there was still so much to be afraid of.

When the others burst back in, Keith and Shiro sprang apart, and each of them only had to wipe their eyes once.  Keith figured that was good enough.  The others didn’t say anything, and they leapt into trying to make plans.  If Keith sat a little too close to Shiro on the couch or Shiro hovered a little too close to him once they were up and moving again, nobody said anything about that, either.


	15. Coran and Everyone - good night hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to end on something that felt like a good ending i.e. that wasn’t pretty much straight-up angst. I also wanted to write more Coran!hugs, because while I managed to turn one of the prompts into an Allura prompt, I never did Coran as a central character.
> 
> After a late dinner turns into some late-night nostalgia, Coran hugs everyone before he sends them off to bed.

Something about sitting around the dining table late at night made the paladins soft and reflective in ways they weren’t when they clustered around the couches outside the training room or lounged around the bridge.  Coran wasn’t sure what it was, but nights like this, when they finished late and ate later and sat once they were full, everything seemed very close to the surface, somehow.

“I miss peas,” Pidge said absently, “Is that dumb?  My dad always said the peas they got in space were the best peas and I always thought one day I’d try them, but here we are and there are no Garrison peas around to try.  And I don’t even _like_ peas, I just like the way my dad always got when my mom made peas, like he just couldn’t wait to go up again, and we knew we were gonna miss him, but he was just so-” she trailed off for a moment, reflectively, and the others let her.  "He was happy," she finally concluded, "And I miss that.”

The others nodded, making little soft noises of agreement.  "Your dad really did love those," Shiro said, looking distant, "He used to eat mine, too.  I hate peas.”

“I never hated peas,” Hunk said thoughtfully, “But I always hated brussels sprouts.”  Lance raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Hunk laughed, “No, I know, I love them _now_ , but you have to learn, right?  I think about that when we try new alien things and they aren’t great.  I think about how my mom would tell me I had to try the whole thing and be polite and I couldn’t have dessert until I ate all my vegetables.  Do you ever miss that?  I kind of miss that.  That’s probably a dumb thing to miss.”

“I miss hugging my mom good night,” Lance said decidedly, “I think maybe I miss that the most out of everything.”

Another noise of agreement went around the table, from everyone but Keith, who’d had his head down in his arms for the last 20 minutes and had watched the others without talking.  Shiro reached a hand over to rest on Keith’s shoulder.

The table was sadder now, as it settled into another silence, and after a moment, Coran couldn’t take it.  He hated that they’d dragged these kids so far from home, so far from their families, but he also hated that his planet was gone and he and Allura were all that was left and the universe needed them to keep going.  Usually, the paladins being lonely and far from home blurred into all the thousand things he hated about being at war, one more hurt in a world of pain, and usually it wasn’t - _couldn’t be_ \- his priority, but it was late and whatever made the paladins get like this, late at night and sitting around the table, was affecting him too.

He got quickly to his feet, clearing his throat.  "This has been a nice chat, but we’ve got a long day tomorrow," he announced, "Time for everyone to go to bed, I think.”

The paladins looked up at him, a little dazed, like they couldn’t catch up to the nonsequitor, and he knew it was the right choice.  They needed sleep and not to lose themselves in sorrow.  "Hugs for everyone, and then bed," he said, waving his arms at them, "Come on."  They stood up almost reflexively, halfway to their feet before comprehension dawned on them.

Lance grinned first.  "Really, Coran?”

“Of course!  I may not be your parents, but I’m always here for a hug when you need one!”

He wasn’t sure that had always been true.  He wasn’t sure he’d have offered a few months ago.  He wasn’t sure he’d have wanted to open himself up to all those emotions, when worrying about Allura was already a heavy enough burden to carry.  But he’d come to care about the paladins since then, all of them, and now it _was_ true.

He wrapped his arms around Lance as soon as the boy was close enough, letting Lance tuck his face into his shoulder and hug him back.  Lance’s wiry limbs were surprisingly strong, but even a brief hug was enough to convince Coran the boy needed feeding up a little.  He’d make sure he got a little extra food goo at breakfast, if he remembered.

Pidge claimed her hug next, wrapping her arms around his middle as he hugged her in return and then springing up onto her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.  Allura giggled when he blushed, but Pidge was already out of his arms and wishing the others a casual good night, and he wasn't sure she had noticed.

Hunk had hugged him before, when he was excited and had nearly lifted Coran clear off his feet, but now he was tired and a little sheepish.  The boy ducked his face down to press his forehead against Coran’s shoulder, like Lance had done, and Coran squeezed Hunk tightly enough to be able to get one of his hands up, cradling the back of Hunk’s head to tell him it was ok.  Hunk breathed out heavily, like he’d been holding his breath, and Coran could feel it against his shoulder.  "Good night, Hunk," he said softly, "Sleep well.”

Hunk let go, nodding.  "Yeah.  Yeah, I’m sure I will.  Big day tomorrow.“

They were all big days, so Coran just nodded, reaching out to ruffle Hunk’s hair.  The boy laughed, looking suddenly less morose, and turned away toward the bedrooms, straightening his hair back.

Shiro stepped up for a hug next, coming in for a tight squeeze and then breaking away after three affectionate thumps to Coran’s back.  Coran almost laughed, but something in Shiro’s eyes as he said, "Thanks, Coran,” was a little too serious, and he held it in.

Keith was the only one left, hovering warily near the doorway like he’d almost left and might be willing to leave if Coran didn’t seem interested in hugging him.  That wouldn’t do.  Coran crossed the floor in a few long, quick strides, watching Keith’s face light up with surprise and relief before he pulled the boy into a tight hug and couldn’t see it anymore.  Keith hugged back fiercely, holding Coran so tightly it was almost hard to breathe, and Coran squeezed back just as hard, figuring Keith needed it.  When they released the hug, Keith couldn’t quite meet his eyes and half-ran down the hall, throwing a casual “Good night!” over his shoulder like he was embarrassed.

Coran watched him go, feeling weirdly empty.  He wasn’t supposed to feel like this.  But kids weren’t supposed to sit between their friends, not talking about their own family, and they weren’t supposed to hug like they were fighting.

Allura floated up to him, clearly soliciting a hug of her own, and he kissed her on the forehead before wrapping his arms around her.  This was more familiar, and Allura leaned into him like he really _was_ family, and he rested his head on top of hers like he hadn’t with the others.

He’d never asked for this.  He’d never asked for a castle full of teenagers, trying to save the universe from a threat that had destroyed the adults.  He’d never asked to be the last of his kind, the last of the Alteans, the last of the palace guards, the last of the defenders of the Altean monarchy.  He’d never asked to worry about children who weren’t his, and especially not to worry about children who weren’t anyone’s, and needed someone to step into the gap those nobodies had left behind.

But maybe he _had_ asked for it.  Because 10,000 years ago, he’d agreed to stay with Allura.  He’d agreed to look after her, knowing that things might not go as hoped for and there might not be anyone else.  He’d agreed to defend her, to stand by her, to watch her grow and change and take on new responsibilities.  He’d agreed to watch her become a woman, and a leader, and a queen.  And they might not have a planet, and she might not be a queen, now or ever, but he was proud of her every minute of every day, in this strange new terrible universe, and he was glad he’d stayed.

“I’m glad I never lost you,” Allura said, like she knew where his mind had drifted, “I’m glad you were still here when I woke up.”

“I am too, Princess.”  He wasn’t sure if it was an honorific or a nickname, anymore, but either way, he meant it.

“I know you miss them, too,” she said, “But I know I miss them less when you’re around.  I hope you know I’ll always hug you, if you miss them less that way.”

He squeezed her tighter for a moment.  He didn’t know how to tell her how proud he was, now and always, so he made a joke instead. “You must be tired if you’re getting sappy on me!  I think it’s past time you were in bed.”

Allura laughed, because she’d known him all her life and knew how to see through things like that, and kissed him on the cheek.  "Good night, Coran."

"Good night, Allura.”

He watched her go and then shut down the nonessential systems on the bridge, still feeling the ghosts of his paladins in his arms.  He’d never asked for children.  But he had them.  And all the rest - all the rest could go to hell.  It was time to win this war, because anything else didn’t bear thinking about.


End file.
